Sol
The solar system was formed billions of years ago through the accretion of material remaining from the formation of its star, Sol, the sun. Locked ever since in its orbit, the history and present disposition of virtually every object within two light years is shaped by its relationship to this body. The sun is a bright G2 main sequence star, theoretically on the hot end of the continuum of stars able to give rise to life. For most of its history, transhumanity fueled its rises and falls with the sun’s energy, first as stored in materials like hydrocarbons, later directly with solar converters. Today the sun remains a crucial source of energy, but its outer reaches have also become home to some. The adaptations required to dwell here make these Solarians one of transhumanity’s most unusual offshoots. Coronal Morphs Perhaps an example of transhumanity’s most extreme neogenetic creations are the morphs adapted to live in the sun’s corona. Suryas, named after a hindu sun deity, are large, whale-like, and uniquely adapted to dwell in the brilliant, superheated plasma cloud of the sun’s outermost layer. Each surya is like a miniature version of a circumsolar habitat. Their metabolisms generate powerful magnetic fields that shield them from the sun’s heat and radiation, while acting as magnetic sails and scoops by which they sail on the currents of the solar wind and extract elements carried on it. Suryas are protected by layers of liquid water “blubber” that capture harmful ions, which internal medichines extract and eject, while maintaining useful elements such as oxygen and hydrogen, from which more water can be synthesized. They communicate using patterns of dark and light coloration on their exterior skins and are extremely sensitive to the helioseismic soundwaves that are the sun’s pulse, using these vibrations to predict and avoid heavy weather in the coronal atmosphere. A second type of coronal morph is the salamander, a tiny humanoid morph with gas jets on the back and chest for maneuvering in vacuum. Salamanders have very similar metabolisms to suryas, but are unable to survive unprotected in the corona. They subsist on the chemicals and energy extracted from the corona by Ukko Jylinä, the only habitat where they are found. Both suryas and salamanders communicate either via transmissions from their implants or by “sunspotting” — shifting dark and light patterns on their skins to form language. Habitats Habitats in Sol’s corona face challenges more extreme than those anywhere else in the system. Transhumanity’s only means of shielding a habitat from the heat and radiation emitted by a G2 star is to generate strong electromagnetic fields. Even then, the dangers posed by solar flares and coronal mass ejections — massive explosions that jettison coronal material tens of thousands of kilometers out into circumsolar space — mean that the sun’s polar regions are the only safe space in which to position habitats. As such, circumsolar habs require extraordinary expense to build and maintain, and two of the three major circumsolar stations are heavily backed by distant organizations. The outer layers of circumsolar habitats are covered with thousands of electromagnetic dynamos drawing power from the sun itself. These dynamos generate the powerful fields necessary for shielding. Within are intermediate layers filled with liquid water that capture ionized particles, teeming with nanobots that collect the ions and vent them into space. The water must be regularly replaced from captured iceteroids that are imported using heavy electromagnetic shielding of their own. Within the water shield is a cluster habitat, an array of modules on a framework following a roughly spherical plan. Coronal habitats are easily detectable at a great distance because of the bow shock preceding them and the plasma tail left behind in the solar wind. Category:Solar System Category:Core Book Category:Sunward